Mount Isa Mayor Danielle Slade said there will be a lot of Council engagement on the proposed materials recycling facility in the next six to 12 months.
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Council got a $6m grant in 2020 to set up the facility and in its first meeting for 2021 Council approved the building of a $300,000 shed at the tip to help them move towards a full recycling option with the MRF expected to open by end 2021.
Cr Slade said they were conducting a major review at the moment on Council's ability to recycle and how to do it affordably.
"That's the most important thing because recycling can be expensive," Cr Slade said.
"To make it work into the future we can't leave the next council with a bill. We can't recycle and then stockpile. We need to do it well, that's going to be our focus."
The Mayor said the review would include whether the container exchange facility at the tip would ever reopen after it closed due to COVID in March 2020.
"That was losing $200,000 a year," she said.
"We really would love to continue on but it will be a cost to the ratepayers. Community engagement will see whether we can do it and break even."
Other items the Mayor discussed with the North West Star included the long proposed transport and logistics hub which has fallen off the radar in recent times.
"It is definitely a priority though you are right, it hasn't been a focus recently," she said.
"Towards the end of last year we changed CEOs and the new CEO has to get his head around Mount Isa City Council and our challenges so this year we are keen to look at not only the Hub but also the Motor Sports Complex as well."
Cr Slade said council also wanted to look at what they could do at Lake Moondarra, which was a big part of Council's tourism strategy released in February 2020.
"There is already a glamping project and we also want to look at how we make that a great place for the community and tourists," she said.
"Lake Moondarra is an untapped resource with 1.2m barramundis out there, that's a big fish so it's a wonder we haven't got more fishermen coming here sticking a rod in."
Cr Slade said they would look at putting a proposal to improve mobile reception at the lake.
"Proper connectivity is a priority for us at council," she said.
Council will look at putting together a mobile black spot funding request in March to improve coverage at the Lake however they were knocked back in a similar request in the last round in 2020.
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